LATEST: Trump to nominate William Barr for attorney general

Also names Nauert as UN ambassador pick

FILE - In this Nov. 26, 1991, file photo, President George H.W Bush, right, and William Barr wave after Barr was sworn in as the new Attorney General of the United States at a Justice Department ceremony in Washington. (AP Photo/Scott Applewhite, File) (Source: Scott Applewhite/AP)

December 7, 2018 at 8:45 AM CST - Updated December 7 at 11:34 PM

(RNN/AP) - President Donald Trump said Friday he will nominate William Barr, the former attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, for his next attorney general.

Trump made the announcement while departing the White House for a trip to Missouri. He called Barr “a terrific man” and “one of the most respected jurists in the country.”

Barr was attorney general between 1991 and 1993, serving in the Justice Department at the same time that now-special counsel Robert Mueller oversaw the department’s criminal division. Barr later worked as a corporate general counsel and is currently a counsel at a prominent international law firm, Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

In May 2017, Barr wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post defending Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Jeff Sessions as permanent attorney general and presumably oversee the Mueller investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Matthew Whitaker has been acting AG since Sessions resigned at the president’s request in November.

In May 2017, he wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post defending Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey.

Trump also announced former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert as his pick to replace Nikki Haley as ambassador to the United Nations. Nauert’s first government experience came when she was named a spokeswoman for the State Department in April 2017, and she was promoted to acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs earlier this year.